One Year Of Oli Administration

Issue February 2019

One Year Of Oli Administration

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

Oli had done a lot of things in one year but not in the
interest of the people. He had repressed the local folks in Kirtipur, Chovar,
and Sundhara in Kathmandu bullying them to build what the locals did not like.
He revived Prithvi Narayan Shah dead for more than 250 years only to repress
the living folks today. He has been the most successful person to provide the
common folks with disinformation about all the corruption cases and the
development activities. And corrupt people have been encouraged contrary to the
belief that the corrupt folks would be terrified. He has certainly failed in
retrieving the billions of Nepalese rupees the Auditor General’s report has
said to retrieve; that money were either irregularly spent or spent without
following the laws. Never mind, this is the government of two-thirds majority.

On January 11, 2019, Prime Minister KP Oli took his
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to the statue of Prithvi Narayan Shah at the
gate to the Singhdurbar in Kathmandu, and saluted the Prithvi dead for more
than 250 years but Mr. Oli revived him to show that he would be not less
powerful than Prithvi and could probably do what Prithvi had done.

At the same time on the same day, Mr. Oli sent not only
his police but also the army to stop the Kirtipurians from doing what they had
been doing annually for enturies to spit in the stone popularly know as the
scar of smallpox stone to remind Prithvi Narayan Shah cutting off noses and
ears of their ancestors for resisting the Prithvi’s assaults on them.

If Mr. Oli were the prime minister of all Nepalis he
probably would have never taken such the most distasteful action, and he would
protect the locals from such assaults even from the dead Prithvi apologizing
the locals for what the atrocities Prithvi had inflicted on them, and assuring
them of not repeating such things in the future. Instead what Mr. Oli did was
he went to garland the statue of Prithvi calling him the unifier?

The lawmaker representing the folks including the
Kirtipurians did not show up to protect his voters even though his house is
next door. His name is Krishna Gopal Shrestha. Probably, he must have shut the
windows not to see the army and the police confronting the locals at the stone
with the scar of smallpox. Is it not only the shame on Mr. Shrestha but also on
all the lawmakers that could not properly represent their constituents at the
time of need? Would Mr. Shrestha get the votes in the next general elections?

Thus, Mr. Oli has been tending to be the modern Jung
Bahadur: the most notoriously powerful man that had not only killed other
courtiers but also his own maternal uncle only to usurp the power from the most
inept Shah king of that time. However, Mr. Oli needed to understand that Jung
Bahadur had been the most detestable character in the history of Nepal after
Prithvi Narayan Shah whom Mr. Oli so revered for what Mr. Oli only could know,
certainly not for doing anything good for the people after subjugating the
entire people. Probably, Mr. Oli simply wants to follow Prithvi to do the same.
Who knows?

The next great achievement Mr. Oli had done was laying the
foundation stone of the dry port in Chovar, which Mr. Oli mentioned in his
address to the nation done on February 14, 2019. Mr. Oli proudly said that the
railways from the south and north would bring the goods to this port. Surely,
those railroads would bring the goods if those railroads were to build and the
dry port, too.

Mr. Oli had not been even able to complete the Melamchi
Drinking Water project the previous governments had already completed more than
90 percent work on it. Could anybody believe Mr. Oli who could not complete the
less than 10 percent of the work on the Melamchi River and could not bring
water to Kathmandu, would really build the dry port?

The Melamchi Drinking Water project had been suspended for
the indefinite period. That is for sure. So, nobody knows when the work on this
project would restart. If the media reports are correct the Oli administration
has been either talking to the fugitive Italian contractor or annulling the
contract or searching for new contractors or the Oil administration itself is
restarting the work on the Melamchi project depending on, which newspaper
anybody reads.

Nobody knows when the water will flow from the Melamchi
River to Kathmandu even after spending billions of rupees and digging almost
all the roads in Kathmandu causing tremendous pollution and making the people
sick, and making Nepalis heavily in debt because the project has been going on
with the loan from Asian Development Bank.

The third noticeable thing Mr. Oli did was laying the
foundation stone for constructing a view tower at Sundhara bullying the local
people’s voice and disregarding the aesthetic situation of the area. Leaving
the remains of the old tower the earthquakes of 2015 had tore down intact, and
using the most culturally valuable area of the part of the ancient area of
Kathmandu, Mr. Oli was determined to build a new modern taller tower not
listening to the locals. That is what the power of the two-thirds majority Mr.
Oli demonstrates.

What Mr. Oli could do but he did not.

The next great thing the Oli administration has been doing
is probably trying to cover up or ignoring the irregularities in the so-called
purchase of two wide-body planes for the National Airlines Corporation even
after it has been proved that in fact those planes are taken on lease rather
than purchasing them. Anybody could go to youtube.com and find the video the
Youth Aroma had posted on to understand whether the planes were purchased or
the planes were leased from Hi Fly X company. The man in the video questioned
how each plane costing NPR 26 billion could be purchased both for only NPR 24
billion. Whether Mr. Oli pretends he does not know it or does not understand it
otherwise he would have taken immediate actions against the defaulters.

The Auditor General’s 55th annual report has
stated that more than NPR 500 billion spent irregularities so far. In the
fiscal year 2017 alone, the irregularity figure has been more than NPR 100
billion. The Oli administration could force the folks spending the taxpayers’
money irregularly to pay back to the State. However, the widely known
corruption has been the way of life for all the politicians and most of the
bureaucrats in the high places; however, the Oli administration had been mute
on this matter except for Oli endlessly talking about the zero tolerance of
corruption. Probably, if Mr. Oli were to hit the corruption then it might be
just hitting on his own knee. Is it not one of the great achievements of the
Oli administration in a year?

The news posted on https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/corruption-rampant-in-public-offices/ on February 9, 2019 stated that
the study the Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had
done identified fourteen public offices that did not provide services without
bribe. What Mr. Oli had to say about it nothing so far? This is the vivid
example of his zero tolerance of corruption. However, Mr. Oli had not stopped
parroting his zero tolerance of corruption. He even went on saying that he
would not involve in corruption not allow others to involve in, too. Obviously,
it has not happened even after one year of Mr. Oli in office.

Singer Pashupati Sharma sang a heavily loaded sarcastic
song titled “loot na sa-kay loot kancha” means loot as much you can Kancha, you
don’t find this freedom in other countries only in Nepal. Mr. Oli needed to
appreciate this sarcastic song and take the message gladly what the singer
wanted to given him. The rule of law is what the folks want not the rule of the
Yamraj (Lord of death in the Hindu world) in the heaven-like country. This song
indicates how far the folks have been disgusted with the speeches of Mr. Oli
nothing more. The song is posted on youtube.com for an easy access of all folks
to it.

Mr. Oli could use his two-thirds majority power to
retrieve the money reportedly some Nepalis had parked at Swiss Bank. An
attention of Mr. Oli has not been drawn to such a serious matter so far.

Mr. Oli needs to comprehend that his slogan: “Prosperous
Nepal Happy Nepali” would really be true if he were to decease the widespread
prevailing corruption among the politicians and most of the bureaucrats just by
10 percent every year for the five years of his term. Mr. Oli’s name would be
written in the golden letters in the history of Nepal if he could shed some
sweat to achieve this meager 10 percent target of reducing the endemic
corruption every year.

Ironically, the corruption has not been reduced but even
increased during the one year Mr. Oli in office. Probably, his name would be as
dark as of Prithvi if Mr. Oli were to blindly follow Prithvi: his hero of the
18th century knowingly or unknowingly rather than making right
decisions in the 21st century, and then letting the corruption
becoming the way of life for the politicians and bureaucrats.

Mr. Oli could expedite the fast track highway from
Kathmandu to Terai. Such a highway could make a huge contribution to the fast
economic growth and to his dream of “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali”. Probably,
such a good idea has not clicked his mind or brain so far for unknown reasons.

Another important thing Mr. Oli could do but he has not
done so far is the construction of an international airport at Nizgad in the
flat land in the south. This airport alone could make the fast economic growth
possible. This airport could contribute to bring a large number of tourists
that Mr. Oli has dreamed of bringing.

If Mr. Oli could not push the Nizgad airport project to
build in the near future then he could at least upgrade the international
airport in Kathmandu to cope with the growing air traffic if he is serious
enough about his slogan of “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali.” If it is only a
joke then never mind those infrastructures.

Probably, Mr. Oli could have better done the job of laying
the foundation stone for building the railroads along the east-west highway in
the southern flat land for easy transport of goods and the people, too.
However, Mr. Oli said in his address to nation that the work had been going on
this project.

Such railways would contribute to the fast economic growth
to help his dream of “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali” come true. His economic
growth claim of 6.7 percent per six months as stated in one of his recent
speeches would never make “Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali” possible.

Mr. Oli must have read or heard the news about farmers bulldozing
their vegetable crops in Terai because they could not sell the crops in
Kathmandu and in other areas, too. Where is the finance minister or minister
for supplies or the prime minister himself who have been shouldering to assist
the farmers to grow more foods to make the country self-sufficient in at least
vegetables to respond such grave and serious matter?

The country has been importing food grains, onions and
potatoes and what not but the concerned ministers not to mention the
responsible State agencies did not respond to the woes of the farmers that
could not sell their products. Similar problems would crop up in the poultry
sector soon.

The trade deficit has been alarmingly high and growing
every year. Why Mr. Oli did not act in response to the farmers that have been
working hard and risking their labor and capital only to produce the crops that
could not be sold in the market? Their products could offset the huge trade
deficit to some extent no matter how small it might be.

Our youths working in the Middle East or the East Asian
countries have been supporting the trade deficit; however, upon return at the
airport they have been facing the problem of taking their personal effects
home. Recently, the Oli administration has been harassing the returnees at the
international airport in Kathmandu confiscating a few extra items they have
brought for the family use instead of awarding them for earning so much of
foreign currencies for the country.

Physical Achievements

If anybody were to read or listen to the Mr. Oli’s address
to nation delivered on February 14, 2019 s/he would hardly find any hard
figures on the physical achievements except for the few hundreds of roads
constructed, paved or repaired and a few hundred suspension bridges.

These figures are hard to believe because most of the
construction work is done at the last quarter of every fiscal year when the
monsoon rains became the daily events.

Hundreds if not thousands of development projects are done
a little or half done or only partially done or even not done at all. Mr. Oli
did not like to talk about them, never mind. However, he repeatedly talked
about the waterways and water transport asking folks even to buy tickets for
travel on boats making himself a laughingstock.

The recent news has it that most of the development
projects take at least twice the project schedule. The Kulekhani fourth was
supposed to complete soon but it has been rescheduled and would be completed
next year or so. So many hydropower plants are supposed to be completed soon
but none of them has been completed so far causing to import hundreds of
megawatts of power from India causing the trade deficit even more.

One thing Mr. Oli has skipped in his address to the nation
is what percent of the capital budget allocated to various development projects
has been used. Mr. Oli must have been shy to state because it might be too
small for him to state boldly. One source has stated that it is just 22 percent
for the six months of the current fiscal year. However, Mr. Oli must be aiming
at this budget to spend in the last quarter of the fiscal year when the monsoon
rains would be helping him to expedite the construction work done everywhere.
The province three has succeeded to spend six percent of the capital budget
thanks to Mr. Oli’s lackluster attitude of empowering the provincial
governments.

Mr. Oli has been probably attempting at making the mockery
of federalism. The Oli administration is trying to make the Chief District
Officer (CDO) more powerful than the provincial governors or the chief
ministers. One of the leaders of Mr. Oli’s party: Janardan Sharma came out
strongly at the House of Representatives and in the media stating he strongly
opposed making CDOs so powerful.

What Oli did for his party?

Prime Minister Oli made the Prime Minister Employment
Program public on February 13, 2019, the news in “gorkhapatra” stated on
February 14, 2019. Following this program, the Oli administration would pay 50
percent of the basic salary as the subsistent allowance for 100 days as an
unemployment benefit to one of the family members living under the poverty line
not anybody of the family having any job in country or abroad for a year.

This amount would be sufficient surely for having one meal
a day for a year if anybody managed to get a meal at less than the market
price, as the minimum wage is set at NPR 517; half of it per day for 100 days
would be just NPR 25,850 whereas a single meal cost NPR 100. If a person eats
two meals a day means s/he needs at least NPR 200 a day means s/he needs at
least NPR 200x365 days= NPR 73,000 (US$ 730) per year.

This tool Mr. Oli or his advisors must have prepared for
in view of the general elections when they might need to pay cadres to keep
them working and might be even others that might be the potential voters for
their party. Is it not a good election strategy rather than keeping the
unemployed people alive?

Mr. Oli could increase the allowances to senior citizens
but he did not on the advice of his least competent financial minister. However,
Mr. Oli has prepared to provide an unemployment benefits to. However, Oli might
double the allowances to senior citizens just in time of the general elections.

Keeping the election campaign pledges

The Oli administration had already set up the office of
the water transport, as the State media reported that Mr. Oli opened it up on
February 14, 2019. Mr. Oli’s pet project has been the water transport. He wants
to see Nepalis travel on boat. That was his election campaign pledge. He wanted
to keep it.

He had other election campaign pledges such as increasing
the allowance for the senior citizens to NPR 5,000, and increasing the income
per capita. He has done nothing to keep those campaign pledges even though he
could do so. Probably, Mr. Oli had the habit of doing impossible things first
and then the rest of other easy ones.

What about the income per capita his party election
manifesto had pledged to increase fantastically? Mr. Oli did not want to
remember it because probably, he knew it, it could not happen in his lifetime
then what was the use of talking about it not even worth to make joke about it.
That was only the election pledge it could be easily forgettable for his party.

Foreign policy

One of the chairmen of his party and the central committee
of his party in his presence opposed the external interference in Venezuela.
However, when he held a meeting with the envoy of the United States of America,
he told the envoy it was surely the slip of the tongue of his colleague it
could happen in America, as the president said that Nepal was a part of India.
What an American president is he even did not know Nepal is an independent
country throughout its history unlike America and even India.

Conclusion

Mr. Oli made many jokes in his address to the nation
rather than making any serious commitments to the fast socio-economic
development. So, as already mentioned he could not say anything about the
capital budget his administration has used during the last six months of the
current fiscal year. It is one of the main indicators of the Oli’s performances
as a prime minister but he did not want to show it off because it would be
shameful to a person like Mr. Oli who actual wants to boast only.

Mr. Oli also did not say anything about the purchase of a
bulletproof car, and a helicopter for the use of the president at the cost of
billions of rupees. Mr. Oli did not mention it in his address to nation because
it also might be shameful to any person with the sense of humor and dignity to
dwell in such a trifle matter.

Mr. Oli in his address to nation has said that the
investment friendly environment has been created in the country for anybody to
invest in. However, the report on the ‘Status of Corruption and Good Governance
in Nepal, 2019’ the Commission on Investigation into Abuse of Authority (CIAA)
stated that political leaders, high-level government officials, and advisors to
ministers work in collusion with each other to make a policy decision in their
favor and for the benefits of a handful of persons, the news on https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/corruption-at-policy-making-level-worries-anti-graft-body/
has it. Is it the investment friendly environment?

However, the common folks would evaluate the performances
of Mr. Oli not only of one year but also of all the years of his term in office
and then deicide whether to vote him in or out in the next elections. Probably,
majority of the voters in the Kathmandu Valley would stay out of Mr. Oli and
his party giving a chance once again either to the Nepali Congress or some
other promising political parties. That is surely a prediction only, of course.